Welcome to my Ancient Hearth

A hearth is the heart of the home. It is where we come to gather, especially at the end of the day. We draw about the fire to warm ourselves; we take in the smells of the cooking, nourishing our bodies; we come to tell stories of our day, nourishing our spirits. Yearning for the wisdom of the past, I hope those who come to this blog will feel the warmth of the hearth.

I am homeschooling my Grade 5 twin girls using Waldorf inspired education and that is the primary focus of this blog.

I have spent quite a bit of time documenting our Grade 1 year, which can be found through the links below. Grade 2 is sparse and for that, I apologize. Grade 3 is even more sparse as life keeps us more and more pressed for time. Nonetheless, I have decided to leave this blog up because I know how much I have relied on other blogs to enhance my children's lives and even if I don't have time to put as much content up as I did when my twins were younger, I hope the efforts I have put out in prior years will help inspire other families who have embarked on their own unique journeys.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Summer Bees Needle Felting Tutorial

This tutorial goes out to Honey from Mondorfment for her wonderful Sunshine Award nomination :D I haven't done a simple craft tutorial in far too long, so here's a fun and easy one for summer!

Supplies:

- needle felting needle

- needle felting pad or a sponge

- three colors of wool roving (black, yellow, white/cream)

- optional: string or yarn, sewing needle, scissors, twig

Step 1: Take the black roving and roll it tightly with your fingers, securing it with the needle felting needle by jabbing it in several times. The barbs on the needle with help the wool grab onto the other fibers, thereby binding it into your desired shape.

Step 2: Once you have the size/shape of your bee, take a little thin bit of the yellow wool roving and wind it onto the bee in stripes. Needle felt into place. The needle does not need to go *all the way through*, as the barbs are on the very tip. That will also push some of the wool through to the other side and can discolor your project a bit.

Another fun and easy needle felting tool which I highly recommend is the Clover needle felting tool. It has five needles and a safety guard, which makes it a nice tool for younger needle felters. It comes with fine pointed needles, but you can also purchase thicker needles, as well. Shop around for better prices - often found in your local crafting shop!

Step 3: Take your white or cream colored wool and round the edges with your needles, making it into the shape of little wings.

Step 4: Needle felt the wings on.

Voila!

If you have younger children, you can make the bees bigger to make them safer and easier to handle.

***Remember that the wool can be a choking hazard, so please don't give these to little ones under 3 or even those who still put things into their mouths***

Now for a fun *optional* project using your lovely needle felted bees...

Have your child find some nice sticks or twigs on a nature walk. You can sand and polish for fun, if you'd like. These ones are in their natural state...

Thread a sewing needle with some thread or yarn and attach to the bees.

Tip: I like to come in through the top of the bee, hidden by the wings, and then pull it through to the bottom, and come back up again through the wings to make it extra secure. If you just come up through the bottom, your knot might not be tight enough to hold and your bee will literally go flying off the string (probably to the delight of your child - lol)!

These are wonderful as puppets, for plays, free play, nature/seasonal tables, and gifts. The simple shape is a wonderful place to start for beginning needle felters :D

This would also be amazing to add to Grade 3 curriculum when studying the bees!

These are so cute - I love bees. We did something very similar with teeny tiny pine cones a month or so ago at our craft group - have a look if you like http://motherrhythm.blogspot.com/2010/06/wednesday-craft-group_15.html

Ariella - I can't remember *for sure* where I bought it, but it was most likely from Three Sisters Toys. They might actually be somewhat near you (they're in FL)...anyway, here's a link to the Blooming Flower in their shop :D HTH!

Jen, buzzing bees are the highlight in our home at the moment as my boys spread out the honey on our dining table to be entertained by hundreds of bees. They will delight in these fluffy little creatures. Have you seen Marie's rainbow turtledoves,, they are precious,, I made them and await a good internet connection to upload some photos.